Zing Tool Holder Box Assembly Tutorial

Make your own Zing Tool Holder using poster board, paper and glue.

Supplies needed:
2-3 sheets of poster board cut into 10" x 12" pieces
1 sheet of 12 x 12 black paper or card stock
1 sheet of 12 x 12 decorative heavy card stock for cover
1 big rubber band
liquid glue for paper (I recommend Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive
Permanent spray adhesive
MTC software
Zing Die Cutting Machine
Zing Embossing tool for score lines

Step 1:  With the box page from the MTC file, cut it 7 times from poster board and 1 time from the black paper or card stock.  These are all the pieces you will need for your box.

Step 2:  Lay out your pieces: A - pieces cut from black paper, B 7 top pieces, C, D & E 7 - each box bottom and 7 each long sides (2 times), F - 7 each short sides (2 times), G - box feet/runners (2 times), H - 7 each support for box top.

Step 3: Glue  the box pieces together using liquid glue. Run a line of glue around the outer edge of each piece and through the middle and carefully align the edges and squeeze them together.  Do this for all 7 pieces  piece b through G.  Make sure to wipe any glue from around the edges as you go.  When gluing the box top top pieces together, use a couple of the tools inserted in the hole to guide each piece and ensure the holes a perfectly aligned.  Make sure you wipe the excess glue from inside the holes and give the tools a couple of twists after each layer.  The holes a sized perfectly for the tools and any excess glue will give you a hard time in the end.

You will only have 7 pieces for the top support (H) and you will need two of them so just glue 3 pieces together for one and 4 pieces together for the other.  These pieces are structural only and will not show on the finished box.

Note: My top piece seem to bow, probably due to using the tool to align the pieces.  I placed it on a hard flat surface and put a heavy weight on it while it dried and that flattened it out.  I used a 12 pack of soda for my weight, but any heavy flat object will work.

Step 4:  Glue the black paper/card stock pieces to one side of each box piece C through F.  these will be the insides of your box.  You will not need to do this for B, G & H as they will not be visible on the finished box.

Step 5:  It's time to glue the box together You will now have 1 top, 2 long sides, 2 short sides, 1 bottom, 2 top supports and 2 feet/runners.  With the exception of the top supports, each piece will be 7 layers think and should measure pretty close to 1/8" thick.

First, glue the long sides to the box bottom, by place the bottom on a flat surface, apply a thick line of glue to the black side of one long edge on each of the long sides, with the edge of the side on the work surface simply push it up to the glued edge of the bottom, align the free edges with the bottom edges, and hold until the glue sets enough to hold it in place. Repeat this with the other long side.  Note: you many want to cover your work surface with something because there should be excess glue squeezing out from the seams. Note the black sides will be the inside of the box.

Next apply glue to 3 edges of the short side pieces (1 of the long edges and both of the short edges).  With the black sides facing the inside of the box, place the short sides on the inside edges on each side. push down on the side piece and gently squeeze the sides together to make a good bond and squeeze out the extra glue.  At this point I put a rubber band around the box to hold it in place while it dried.  The rubber band should be big enough to go around the box without too much pressure.

I also applied a line of glue to the inside seams of my box and smoothed it out with my finger to ensure a good bond. Make sure to wipe off any excess glue from the outside of your box at this point.
Now apply glue to on side of each of the top supports and place them on the inside long side walls of the box with the top edges aligned with the top edges of the box sides.  I placed my supports a bit higher than they needed to be and then temporarily place my box top on just to push them down into the proper place. These will give you a support and gluing surface for the box top.  I forgot to take a picture of this stage so I doctored one up in Photoshop to show you.

Allow the pieces to dry for quite a while.  I let mine dry for about an hour to make sure it was good and set.

Step 6:  When the box is very well set up you can add the top.  I recommend applying a little baby, talc or cornstarch powder around the insides of the holes using a your finger or a Q-Tip.  The dried glue tends to be a bit tacky and this will help keep your tools from sticking.Apply glue generously to the top edges of the side walls and the top edges of the supports. Fit your top inside the long wall of the box and on top of the short side pieces.  Push down on the edges where the glue is.  I then moved my rubber band to the top edge of the box and put my 12 pack of soda on top of the box to weight it down  and let is set up for a short while. At this point, your box is done!

Step 7: Emboss the score lines and cut the box cover from the MTC file out of a heavy decorative card stock of your choice. Make sure that you hide the cut layer when embossing and hide the embossing layer when you cut and have the wrong side of the paper up.  The cut file was designed this way and it will ensure that your scores lines are on the right side of the paper.  I used on in silver with a bit of a sheen and it matches my Zing quite nicely.  It does need to be a heavy piece of card stock so that it will cover any imperfections in the box assembly.

Fold your paper on all of the score lines and then apply permanent spray adhesive to the back side of all the pieces.

Insert a couple of the tools into the holes in the paper and then insert the tools into the box.  When the paper makes contact with the box the holes should be properly aligned.  Firmly press the paper to the top of the box ensuring good contact around and between the holes the wrap the rest of the box starting with the longer side of the paper.  When the long sides are covered and smoothed down, fold the tabs around the sides and press into place firmly.  Now apply the side pieces of paper to the sides of the box centering them as best you can.

Finally, wrap the fee/runner pieces with the paper wraps.  One side of the feet/runners will not be covered.  This is ok because it will be glued to the bottom of the box.

Step 8: (Optional)  Add the feet/runners to the bottom of the box.  The runners will fit inside the wide grove on the top of your zing.  I put the runners in the groove, spaces them so they would be 1/2 to 1" from the edge of my box.  Apply glue generously to the center of the runners and set your tool box on top.  Gently slide the box so that it is centered on the groove and allow to dry.  You can add a little weight on the top of the box while drying, but it's not really necessary.  The feet/runners will help keep your tool holder in place on top of the Zing.  It will still sit quite nicely on a table with the feet.  You do not have to add this, but I think it worked out really well for me.  I can remove and insert tools and the box doesn't slide off the Zing.

Now it's time to put your new Zing tool box to use.  I hope you enjoy yours as much as I enjoy mine.  If you have any questions please feel free to email me at DCGcuttinitup@gmail.com DCGcuttinitup@gmail.com.  Please let me know what you think by leaving comments on this post.

Zing Tool Holder Cut File Download to return to the file downloads.